Coughing Catastrophe
by Samlie
Summary: Austin would have admit, seeing Ally crouched over with her really nice behind sticking out was the best thing he had seen all day. Even topped seeing her in his old favourite shirt.


**Hi! How ya'll doing? School? Sadly, same. :'(**

 **I thought of this little one-shot myself. A few days before school started for me it just hit me. So I tried getting all my ideas down and organized them into** ** _this_** **. It's semi-edited so ignore the mistakes.**

 **Oh yeah, and don't mind the title either. I didn't really know what else to call this.**

 **!Edit: Thank you _Ryan81976_ for pointing out that this is indeed rated T. I guess I just missed when I was choosing the rating for this. I've changed it now so hopefully that doesn't throw anyone off.**

 **This was honestly really fun to write. Enjoy! I don't own anything.**

* * *

Austin coughed.

And then he sneezed.

It was followed by a grunt of discomfort and a sniffle. His head pounded.

To paraphrase, he was sick.

Austin grumbled as he reached across his nightstand for a tissue to blow his nose in. He stuck his tongue out while he fought the dizziness that he felt after using most of his strength to _blow his nose_. Austin discarded the tissue and groaned, throwing his head back. It landed on the pillow softly. He could feel his hair tickling his neck.

Two layers of sweaters and socks buried under three blankets and yet he was still frozen to his bones. It didn't help the fact that it was winter and it was constantly raining and stormy in Miami. The gloom outside his curtained window only reflected how he felt on the inside at the moment.

Austin had already went through all of his classic Disney movies on old VHS tapes. Heck, he even played them twice back to back. But that was when he was still able to get up and change the tape in the machine. It took every ounce of strength he had now to get up and go to the bathroom.

What was even worse was that his parents had left for work without telling him if they still had food downstairs or not. Austin constantly pondered while his teeth chattered if he should use his bathroom energy to scour the kitchen for food downstairs.

Totally wasn't worth it the first time when he almost passed out halfway up the stairs while actually needing to use the bathroom.

And now here he was lying in bed while his feet froze off watching _The Lion King_ and singing with his hoarse voice along to _The Circle of Life_.

Man.

He couldn't even find his phone that kept beeping and dinging from a bunch of text messages that Austin was receiving. It was somewhere underneath his blankets, tissues and instrument catalogues that he found out that he owned.

It was depressing that he had started to resort to _reading_ to keep himself busy for the past few days.

Austin coughed.

His phone once again dinged interrupting his off-key solo. He groaned as his phone indicated not one but _seven_ consecutive text messages on top of all the other ones that he hasn't even read yet. Austin sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hands to get the weariness out of them.

He then continued on to bury his hands under the mound of blankets and search without his eyes for his phone. It had to be around his general area right?

Hopefully.

Austin gave up his search sooner than he thought he would. He sighed once more before grabbing a tissue. But it was too late as he sneezed unceremoniously. Twice.

Being sick was not a nice feeling.

Austin resumed his attention onto _The Lion King_. He blinked a few times to stop his eyes from watering for no apparent reason. He sneezed again.

His life was so tragic he almost felt bad for himself.

Suddenly he heard a _rat-tat-tat_ coming from his window. Not gonna lie, he almost shitted himself right then.

At first he thought it was that annoying tree branch that kept bonking on his window when it got too windy. But his suspicious dispatched when the _rat-tat-tat_ happened again, this time along with the noise of something dense bonking the window in turn.

He slowed his breathing a bit, afraid it might be someone trying to break into his house while he was sick. On a good day he could've taken out robbers no sweat. But today he felt weak and tired and _dead_.

Austin realized it was kind of stupid to breathe quietly when _The Lion King_ was full on blasting _Hakuna Matata_ and he couldn't even find the damn remote to shut it up.

Although he had to admit, this was his favourite song of the entire score.

 _Rat-tat-tat_.

" _Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase._ "

 _Rat-tat-tat._

" _Hakuna Matata, ain't no passing craze."_

 _Rat-tat-tat_.

Austin covered his ears with his hands. He wanted to check the window and tell the tree branch to fuck off, but he was so tired he didn't think he could even alliterate those two words out loud.

 _Rat-tat-tat_.

Austin sighed, throwing the three layers of thick blankets off of his body with all of his strength before standing on his weak legs. He made his way towards the window, preparing himself for whatever was outside.

Austin took a deep breath before pushing his curtain aside with his hand.

Standing on what he knew was a small ledge a few feet below his window so that she was entirely in his view was a dripping wet Ally Dawson.

His first thought was that he needed to sneeze.

So he did.

And then he opened the window rather quickly to help Ally inside. It took most of his strength to left the glass of the window. He almost wanted to cry at how useless he felt.

"I'm so glad you sneezed _before_ you opened the window," she mumbled as she tumbled into his room ungracefully. She landed flat on her stomach from the window as he shut the little escape to his room.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as she took her wet boots off and placed them in the corner beside his broken heater. She was soaked from head to toe, dripping water onto his carpeted floor, shivering.

Ally looked at him, her teeth clattering. "To keep you company."

"You shouldn't be here."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Come on! I know you're dying of boredom over here!"

"You're gonna get sick," Austin protested. Though he knew it was futile when Ally started to wring out her hair carefully.

Austin looked for a towel to give her. "Didn't you see my texts? I said I was coming to keep you company."

"Ah," Austin lit up when he found a towel that wasn't dirty and didn't have an embarrassing print design on it. "I can't find my phone anywhere," Austin said as he tossed Ally the towel.

"Touché, Dez sent us a video of Trish smacking his phone into a _huge_ puddle!" Ally exclaimed excitedly as she dried her hair out with the towel. Austin realized that _she_ would probably get sick if she were in here wet clothing for a second longer.

"You're going to freeze to death wearing that," he mumbled as he turned around and looked through his dresser for something Ally could wear. There was a nagging voice at the back of his head telling him that his mom wouldn't mind Ally borrowing her clothes, just for a little while.

He ignored it.

It wasn't weird. It wasn't like she _hadn't_ worn his clothing before.

They were best friends, what did everyone expect?

Austin grabbed a faded Katy Perry merchandise tee and gray sweatpants for Ally to change into. Why he had a Katy Perry shirt? The world may never know.

It was almost too familiar as Ally came out of the bathroom a few minutes later in a too large shirt and pants that ran way past her ankles. She stumbled a bit before retrieving her wet backpack on the ground.

Austin had already tucked himself back into his bed as a few minutes out in the cold had already strained him. Hence the fact that he sneezed three times while Ally occupied the bathroom. He watched as Ally unzipped her backpack carefully, as if there were something extremely fragile inside.

Austin would have admit, seeing Ally crouched over with her really nice behind sticking out was the best thing he had seen _all day_. Even topped seeing her in his old favourite shirt.

"No way!" Austin gasped as she pulled out a meal of steaming hot chicken noodle soup in a Tupperware container; sealed shut to avoid spills. He watched as Ally carefully placed the container in his lap before getting a plastic spoon from her bag and giving it to him.

"I had a feeling you had nothing to eat," she mumbled as she turned around again and rummaged in her bag. Austin stared at the warming container in his lap before feebly trying to pop the lid off. He sneezed once before Ally turned back around.

She watched him struggle with the lid for a while before sighing and popping the lid off for him. Austin nodded gratefully before grabbing the spoon. He didn't realize how much his hand was shaking.

He scooped up a spoonful of steaming hot soup onto the plastic spoon. His head pounded painfully inside of his skull as he kept spilling the soup off the small dip of the spoon.

Austin almost caught a few drops of the soup when it dropped completely off of the spoon. He grumbled.

Austin felt the bed shift as he was about to attempt to get his mouth to the spoon again. Ally sat down on the edge watching him struggle, her mouth pressed into a firm line as if she were thinking. Austin continued to struggle.

After another round of unsuccessful scooping he heard Ally speak up. "Here, let me help you."

Ally took the spoon from his cold hands and dipped it into the bowl of steaming soup. Austin watched as she stirred the spoon around for a little bit before scooping up its contents. She brought the spoon to his mouth.

"Open up." A smile grew on her lips as he stared at her. Austin hesitantly opened his mouth as Ally's other hand brushed his chin. It was used to catch the stray drops of soup.

"What are you? My mother?" Austin mumbled as he swallowed down the hot chicken soup. This went on for a while. However, during that time Austin caught a glimpse of Ally while she was carefully feeding him.

Wearing _his_ shirt and sweatpants, sitting on _his_ bed her hair semi-dry behind her, Ally looked absolutely stunning that Austin almost forgot to swallow his soup. He shut his jaw after the last spoonful of soup came his way.

The both of them had got remarkably closer from their original positions on the bed. Probably due to the fact that Ally's arms were too short to reach _all_ the way across his bed to where he was sitting.

Yeah, that made sense.

Once he was finished Ally tucked the Tupperware away and just sat on his bed. She stared at him for a second before taking out her phone. The screen lit up her face as he tried to return his attention to _The Lion King_.

"Here, check this out." Ally pushed her phone into his face. Austin squinted a little as the brightness of her phone blinded him for just a few seconds. It was the video of Dez's phone plopping down into a puddle.

Austin laughed at the noise the phone made when it hit the asphalt. His moment of joy was then attacked by a bout of spastic coughs. He sighed when the coughing stopped.

At that very moment Ally burst into laughter, doubling over and hitting her head on his knee under the blankets. Austin frowned, half confused, half shocked.

"Y-you looked like y-you were—" Ally burst into another bought of laughter, her eyes tearing up. Austin smiled a little, seeing her like that.

"Y-you—"

"Spit it out already," he rasped. His throat was killing him.

"You looked liked the Holy Spirit just entered you," she laughed. Austin burst out laughing with her, falling into another fit of laughter. He couldn't stop, as the more he laughed the more he coughed. And the more he coughed the more Ally's statement came true.

"S-stop," Ally pleaded. Unbeknownst to her, she had shifted so much that lying across his lap, laughing her heart out. "I-I'm gonna choke." Her hair cascaded over one of his arms.

Austin laughed with her until they were both trying to catch their breaths, _The Lion King_ still on in the background. His head pounded painfully, making him wince every other time.

The sky was quickly getting dark as the two chatted away, talking about all the days of school Austin had missed. Of course Ally took notes for him in the classes that they had together. Which wasn't much as she was in most of the AP classes.

She did a wonderful job on his Phys Ed notes.

"So then, Coach Simmons was like, 'Dez stop throwing balls at me!'" Ally mimicked the coach's voice. Austin smiled. She was sitting up now, still on his lap, above three layers of blanket but heck, he wasn't going to tell her that.

He kinda liked it.

They alternated between singing along to _The Lion King 2_ and talking about everything that Austin had missed on his days out.

Sometimes it was hard to concentrate when Ally was so mesmerising. Not to mention that she was well, on his lap, in his clothes and looked completely carefree.

"It's getting dark," he mused after they finished yet another duet. Ally was on her phone again, probably texting Trish or someone else who was important to her. She stared intently at the screen before putting her phone away.

"I should probably get going," Ally said, shifting off of his lap. His legs were numb since he hadn't moved them for a long time. Instinctively his hand reached out to grab her wrist.

"Stay with me," he murmured, his own actions surprising him.

"What?" Ally asked shocked.

"Stay," he repeated. Too late to take that back now. It took a few more moments of Ally staring at him before he saw his words make it into her head.

"I-I, no. I can't! Your parents don't even know I'm here!" Ally babbled. Austin rolled his eyes. They hadn't even checked up on him since they came home. They probably weren't even going to until tomorrow morning.

"Considering I'm sick _and_ they came home hours ago I don't think they'd be checking up on me anytime soon." Austin tugged at Ally's wrist again, getting a more firm grip on her small arm.

Ally hesitated again before he pouted at her. It was unfortunate that he sneezed right then. The puppy eyes were _so_ working.

"Fine," she grumbled. Austin smiled a little. Ally abandoned where she was about to put her boots and chucked her almost-dry jacket back over the broken heater.

Austin and his family went camping a lot. He had a spare sleeping bag tucked at the back of his closet, wedge between all his other camping junk. Apparently, Ally knew exactly where it was as well. She unrolled the bag and instantly shook her head in disdain.

"Is this a _poop_ stain?" Ally asked in horror. Austin choked on a coughing fit that suddenly attacked him right then and there. He shook his head frantically at a disbelieving Ally.

"N-no!" He stuttered. "That's _dirt_!" Austin clarified, chuckling a little bit as Ally visibly relaxed. She continued to pat down the wrinkled edges. He would never admit this to her face, but Ally really _did_ have a nice ass.

A nice ass that was on his lap only minutes before.

Austin licked his lips.

Along with the sky, the weather also dropped. Ally settled into his sleeping bag that was placed right below his bed strategically. Austin shivered under three layers of blankets and two layers of socks.

He cleared his throat a few times before he could breathe again after a while. Just as he took in a few deep breaths of air he sneezed, causing his nose to be blocked again.

Life just loved him.

Austin pulled the covers over his head and left them there until he couldn't breathe anymore. He dramatically opened the comforter only to be bombarded by the harsh coldness. The rain pounded on his window outside.

No matter which way he slept, he always seemed to be cold. Even his nose was frozen to the touch. It was annoying as heck.

Another fit of coughs attacked him.

"Austin?" Came Ally's voice from the darkness. Austin lifted his head, sleep evident in his eyes. Ally was sitting up and staring at him with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"A little cold, but I'll survive." Austin lowered his head back onto the pillow. He shivered as he waited until Ally's breathing indicated sleep before letting out another cough.

His feet were the absolute worst thing to deal with. They were already enclosed in layers of socks yet they were still cold. Why must life be like this?

Austin curled up into a ball as he rolled onto the other side of the bed. He sneezed once before he was absolutely _done_ with sleeping like this. He groaned out loud, throwing an arm over his eyes and willing sleep to take him away.

"Austin?" Ally's voice came again. Austin removed his arm from his eyes and looked at her. She was sitting up again, her hands in her lap.

"Yeah?"

She surprised him when she took one of his hands. "You're freezing." She stood up suddenly and put a hand on his forehead. "But you're burning up."

"I'm okay," he told her. Austin pushed her hands away from his forehead. However she continued to have that look of concern on her face.

"Do you have any more blankets in your closet?" Ally asked before walking over to his dresser and looking through his shirts and pants messily put up on racks. Austin shook his head.

"No. And I told you I'm fi—"

"We need something to keep you warm. It'll break your fever."

Austin bit his lip in the dark. "You could keep me warm," he mumbled, hoping at the same time she would hear it and wouldn't.

But _of course_ , she heard it. Ally spun around on her heel, her eyebrows shot way up. Austin knew that look. It wasn't a _what_? Or an _excuse me_? It was an _are you sure_?

Austin raised the cover just enough for someone to slip in beside him. "Come here."

Ally shuffled her feet across his carpeted floor. She slid in beside him, her leg warm against his own. He lowered the blanket over her as Ally settled in, her head right by his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a while, Ally's body heat already warming up the cold space under his blanket. "Well?" Ally asked. Austin shrugged at her, his eyes slowly drooping due to the lack of sleep.

"Aren't you going to cuddle me closer in an attempt to keep yourself warm?" Ally asked cheekily. Austin chuckled.

"Demanding," he reprimanded. He pulled his best friend's small body closer to his. Her cheek hit his chest, their legs slowly getting tangled together as they found a comfortable position to stay for the night.

It wasn't weird.

Ally smoothed the strands of hair that stuck away from his hot forehead. Austin slowly closed his eyes, not minding the way he was falling asleep. Hopefully his sneezes and coughs would die down and that he wouldn't accidentally cough on Ally.

The smell of Ally's vanilla shampoo somehow made it past his clogged nose and into his senses. It smelled good. Austin pulled her closer and nuzzled his cold nose into her hair.

"That kinda tickles," Ally muttered, her cheek vibrating against his chest. Austin shifted his head to look down at her.

" _Kinda_ tickles huh?" Ally's eyes widened as she realized he was still awake. Austin attacked her with his hands, his legs caging her in. Ally squirmed against him, her laughs silent as she knew they'd get caught by his parents instantly if she made a loud noise.

"Stop it," she whispered as she struggled against him, her laughs coming out in breathy chuckles. Her hair was now tickling him, as he tried to cover up a sneeze. Austin smiled. She was so tiny, so ticklish.

They finally settled down again once Ally concluded that she could not breathe one bit. They resumed their original position, Austin still frozen to the core albeit his forehead was burning up. It was annoying being in a state of _literal_ cold sweat.

Austin observed Ally for a while as he couldn't sleep. Her small figure breathing against him. Austin put his nose to into her hair, closing his eyes and willing sleep to take over.

He couldn't fucking sleep.

Austin groaned when a wave of nausea took over him. How unfortunate that at the same time he had to sneeze, throwing his balance off completely. Ally shifted in his arms, her hair once again tickling his face.

She stared at him for a little while. "You need your fever to break if you ever want to get better."

Austin rolled his eyes. "Don't you think I know that?" His voice sounded thick and raspy. But at the same time off-key like someone going through puberty.

"You need to sweat," she mused. Austin nodded along with her. "You need your heart rate to pick up so you can get your blood flowing. And get warm."

"Stop going all science-y on me, I missed like, a week of school." Austin groaned to emphasize his point, burying his head into the pillow. Ally swatted at his temple.

"Hey!" Austin swatted back. They had a little sissy fight, both swatting their hands at each other before tumbling around in his bed, trying to get away from each other. It was quite intimate, rolling around in his bed at night.

They got tangled in the sheets as both their silent laughs broke the night. It turned into another tickle fight quite fast as Ally was once again squirming away from his touch. Somehow he had enough strength to get up on his hands and knees, trapping Ally beneath him.

"If this was your way of making me sweat," he panted. "It totally worked." Ally smiled at him. Austin swore he never saw anything more radiant in his life.

She bit her lip and stared at him. "You know what would make you sweat even more?"

Austin felt his arms quake from effort. "What?"

"A make out session."

So that's what they did for half the night.

It happened all too fast when his lips came crashing down on hers. And of course, Ally as cheeky as ever met his lips eagerly. It wasn't a juvenile first kiss between them no. It was passionate and pretty heated, to say the least.

It wasn't weird.

Although he knew he might call Ally something _other_ than her name tomorrow. Something like _babe_ or some other thing a boyfriend might call his girlfriend.

Austin grinned into the kiss.

...

Austin entered the school on Monday, feeling fresh and _free_ from the flu. He smiled at everyone who passed by. Heck, he might've even skipped down the halls because he was just feeling _so good_.

Loving life!

Austin waltzed down the halls, holding his hand up for high fives at anyone who wanted to slap his hand. He got a few grins and weird looks, but high fives nonetheless. Austin smiled as he approached his locker near the end of the hallway.

He made it to his locker where Austin quickly dumped in his books and overdue assignments that he had to hand in. He did a few of them over his sick little break. Not all of them; just a few. He was special like that.

Austin flung the door of his locker and began to sort out which books he needed and which he didn't. He was kind of curious at what other assignments that were now piling on him as he was out sick.

"Austin!" Austin whirled around to meet the voice in which called his name. Dez and Trish came bounding down the hallway. Trish with her nose centimetres away from the screen of her phone. Dez with his colourful backpack and dopey grin.

"Hey guys!" Austin said in such a cheery voice it even surprised him. Trish nodded her greeting; Dez stepping up towards him for their signature handshake.

"Glad to see you're alive, buddy," Dez said. He patted Austin's shoulder in an assuring manner. Austin gave Dez a sentimental look before returning his attention behind his two best friends.

"Where's Ally?" Austin asked, concern lacing his voice. Ally was usually the first to his locker. Not behind Trish and Dez. Austin stood on his tippy toes and looked past his redhead best friend.

"Uh, she texted me she got sick over the weekend," Trish said. Then she squinted, her face turning up to look at him. "It's kinda funny how the weekend _you_ got better seemed to be the weekend _she_ got sick."

Austin swallowed. "You don't happen to anything about this do yo—"

Right then the homeroom bell went. Austin thanked all the gods above, visibly relaxing. "Oh look! Homeroom! Catch you later guys!" He sprinted off in the direction of his homeroom. Austin was sure his lungs would burst before he even got there.

Austin sighed as he stepped into the classroom. He'd have to text Ally later about yet _another_ way of making him sweat.

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 **I wanted this to come off as fluffy. I don't know if I actually succeeded in doing that. Just know that I tried my best. :)**

 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Enjoy the rest of your day!**


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